North Carolina School for the Deaf - Clock Tower Yearbook (Morganton, NC)

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Rockingham, N. C. July 3, 1925. When he was an infant, his parents moved to Florida. They lived ten miles north of Miami. While in Florida, Marion lost his hearing as a result of an ear disease that he had when he was seven months old. He is lucky because he can still hear a little with the aid of a hearing device. Marion came to school in the fall of 1932 and Miss Gordon was his first teacher. Mildred Pace has been his classmate all through the grades. He has played on the football team. He enjoys tennis and volley ball just as well. His favorite pastime is reading and solving algebra problems which disturb him. He hopes to go to college and become an engineer. James Vaughn comes from the city of Greens- boro, N. C. where he was born September 25, 1923. Before he became deaf, he attended public school. Mrs. Robert Menzies, one of our former teachers, was James’ public school teacher. To him she is stll ““Miss Wheeler’. When he was seven years old, he had ear trouble which deve- loped into mastoid. He had an operaton, but it was not successful. James became deaf and was sent to this school in the fall of 1931. He and Carey Cale were together in Mrs. Walker’s Pre- paratory Class at Goodwin Hall and have been classmates ever since. James has always played on the football team, but he does not enjoy other but changed his vocation to printing. Last sum- mer he worked in a weaving mill and was very successful. He wants to be a business man when he leaves school. Percy Watson was born totally deaf in the little town of Long Pine on October 4, 1922. He has another deaf brother, Charles, who gradua- ted from this school several years ago. Percy entered in the fall of 1929. He could have gra- duated some years ago, but illness kept him at home and his class left him behind. He has played on both our football and basketball teams and has helped the school win several handsome bas- ketball trophies. His favorite pastime is read- ing. For the past six years his vocation has been printing. Percy has been working as a carpenter during the last several summers but he wants to be a linotype operator when he leaves school. Thus endeth a brief sketch of the personel of the class of 1944. May their future be as bright as their past has been pleasant and may they fulfill the expectations of their friends and teach- ers while holding dear the memories of school days that are ending.

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(Class Peistory i By MiLprep PAcE ym iE, Graduating Class of 1944 was brought U) together as a class in the fall of 1942 with Miss Annie McD. Ervin as our teacher. Marion Sessoms and Mildred Pace have been classmates ever since the entered school. Carey Cale and James Vaughn have been together all through the grades, too. The other members came in later. Carey Cale entered school in the fall of 1931. He left school in 1940, but feeling that he wanted to learn more, returned in February, 1942. He was born in Macclesfield, N. C. September 28, 1922. While he was in his third year in the public school, he lost his hearing as a result of a bad case of mumps. When he was well, he tried to go back to the public school, but failed to catch up with the work. Carey has done good school work here and has been on the victorious basketball team which has won several handsome trophies during the last few years. He enjoys football more than he does basketball, however. Boxing is his favorite sport. He has been under the care- ful instruction of Mr. Duke and Mr. Brown in a study of the steps toward advanced printing. He still feels, however, that he needs more prac- tice, so he is planning to go to a linotype school next year. Irmalee Connor hails from Claremont, N. C. where she was born October 18, 1924. She became deaf as a result of an attack of spinal meningitis. She entered school in the fall of 1931 and Miss Ragin was her first teacher. All through the grades, Math has been her constant enemy, but Irmalee is a good student. She is athletic and her favorite sport is basketball. She is proud to be one of the members of a team that won a beau- tiful basketball trophy. Her hobby is collecting all sorts of china horses. For the past three years she has been taking typing and hopes to become a typist when her dear old Alma Mater opens the door and “pushes” her out. Melvin Corbett was born in La Grange, N. C. February 1, 1924. When he was a small boy, he could tumble very well. One day, when he was eight years old, as he was coming home from public school, he tried to show some of his friends a new trick in tumbling. The new trick was to hang from a horizonal bar on his toes. The first time he failed to do so. The next time he tried, he fell. As a result of this fall, he had an attack of spinal meningitis which caused him to lose his hearing. He has a deaf sister, who had spinal meningitis at the same time. Melvin entered this school in September, 1933 and Miss Joy Bowers was his first teacher. He played on the football team for the past three years. His favorite sport is tumbling. He hopes to become a linotype op- erator when he leaves school. Gilmer Lentz comes from the town of Salisbury where he was born June 28, 1922. He was born totally deaf. He came to school in September 1930. He is Vice-President of our class and Pre- sident of the Student Council. Due to a lack of supervisors, Gilmer has held the position of stu- dent supervisor since the opening of school last fall. He has played on the football team and is also one of the proud members of the basketball team which won the Western Championship. His favorite pastime is working out number puzzles. He has worked in the printing shop for four years and he hopes to become a linotype operator when he finishes school. Mildred Pace, Secretary of the class, comes from Charlotte, N. C. where she was born Feb- ruary 6, 1925. When she was a little girl, she had a bad case of measles. One day when she had almost recovered, her brother gave her a brand new balloon. It was hard to inflate. She was still weak and in some way, trying to blow up the bal- loon caused her to lose her hearing. Before she came to school here, she attended the Charlotte Public School, but she was not able to do the work. She entered this school in the fall of Sep- tember, 1932. Mildred has been taking typing and hopes to become a typist when she leaves school. Marion Sessoms, the President of the class, hails from Roseboro, N. C. He was born in

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(Class Prophecy By Marion Sessoms “We live in fame or go down in flame. Shout! Nothing Air Corps!” can stop the Army The words danced crazily before my eyes. | was so sleepy I could study no longer. I stumbled from the boys’ club room, undressed, said my prayers and fell into bed. Suddenly I was in dreamland. I was piloting a brand new warbird—a Thunderbolt fighter —equipped with the finest and the most ela- borate guns in the world. What a raptured feel- ing I had to think that I was able to pilot such an airplane! Desiring a good adventure I left my English base, flew over the Channel and was running down from my nose. I tried by strenuous effort to keep awake, but to no avail. Unconsciousness crept over me. I realized that I had lost control of my airplane and was diving toward the earth. In a semi-conscious state and in some miracu- lous way, my mind was projected into a wonder- ful future—the glass age in the year of 1955. The future of all my classmates was almost instantaneously revealed to me. One by one their destinies passed before me and I marveled at the wonderful success that each of them had made of their lives. First Carey Cale appeared before me. The scene was Asheville, N. C. in the Land of the Sky in the good old U.S. A., the land of the free. I saw Carey Cale as a successful linotype operator receiving praise for the good job he had com- pleted. He had spent all day linotyping columns of stock lists which is considered perhaps the most difficult task in printing. He was a most proficient printer. Then suddenly Irma Lee Connor was revealed to me as a capable typist for a prominent business man of Hickory. I saw her as she was finishing her typing for the day. She leaned back in her comfortable chair and said, ‘““Whew!’ Her success hadn’t changed her a bit. Scenes kept flashing before me. A pretty su- burban home in Charlotte, N. C. caught my attention and how thrilled I felt when I recognized Melvin Corbett sitting on the doorstep. A cute little boy was with him and I knew in a moment that it was his son. They were both laughing and I knew the little boy had inherited his father’s wit. It was easy to see that Melvin was a success, a good job as a linotype operator on the Charlotte News, a lovely wife and son and a beautiful home. into enemy territory. I zoomed my plane down — to meet a convoy of German trucks heading for the Western front and spattered flame at them. I thought it would be wonderful to prove to the Germans that American pilots were more daring than they. I decided to climb high into the sky and then dive down again in a spiral manner. Up my plane roared into the sky until I was well over 30,000 feet. Again I dived, but this time I noticed an enemy fighter in the air. too. Undaunted, I kept up my attack on the German convoy. The third time I must have climbed too high because, dazed, I rubbed my face with my right arm only to find that blood I quickly concentrated on another scene— a large printing shop in Salisbury, N. C. There stocd Gilmer Lentz directing other men. He was burdened with great responsibility. A newcomer, baffled by the puzzle of the trade, came to him for instruction and Gilmer, in his familiar coun- seling way, sent him back to his work with his puzzle solved. The North Carolina School for the Deaf at Morganton fia shed into view and I suddenly realized as never before how beautiful the cam- pus was. It was dotted with many elegant trees, the grass was so fresh and green that it looked almost blue. I was suddenly shown into a room on the lower floor of the school building. Mildred Pace was teaching language to a class of happy looking boys and girls. She taught as if she had had long experience as a teacher. I realized then that the substituting she did while we were in the Senior Class, had started her on her road to success. The ring on her finger and the smile on her face told me that she was the wife of some lucky fellow.